Passion without Potions
by Mybrainsrmush
Summary: Sequel to Potions of Passion. Lucy attempts to get Gray and Natsu together through a potion, but something goes horribly wrong. I promise, the 'pairing' that shows up in the first chappie won't stay!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is a sequel to my fic Potions of Passion. Which was actually meant to be a one-shot, but then all the comments telling me to continue - and one particular message saying that I must hate my fans if I'm not continuing even though they've asked me o.O - motivated me to give a sequel a shot. That, and I recently came home from holiday and found myself with lots of spare time.**

**Not sure if this will do Potions justice, but here's hoping.**

* * *

_Lucy grinned and watched as the fight progressed between Natsu and Gray, finally realising that Natsu seemed to get far too much enjoyment from Gray's habit of stripping mid-fight, and began to plot how she would get them together._

_I wonder if there's a potion for that?_

* * *

Lucy held a brand new vial of pink potion in her hands, and inspected it under the light.

_Funny how such an innocent looking thing can change so much. Or, at least, I hope it does._

Before letting her matchmaking plans run amok, Lucy had decided that she really needed to check whether Gray felt the same way as Natsu. She thought it would be too cruel to give Natsu hope when Gray felt differently, so she had brewed the potion again. Only this time, she had decided to bake the whole vial into a muffin.

_Hopefully the larger dosage will make Gray do something useful. Like actually professing his love. That would make my job much easier. I swear, if he starts a fight like Natsu did, I'm just going to lock them in a room until the kiss and make-up._

It was with those thoughts swirling through her head that Lucy poured the pink mixture into one of her two bowls of muffin mixture, a small smile gracing her lips as she stirred.

* * *

"I'm not eating it."

"What?" Lucy asked, aghast. Her entire plan hinged on Gray eating this muffin, and she'd be damned if she let him ruin it, "Why not?!"

"Men don't eat muffins."

Lucy rolled her eyes at that. "Since when did you turn into Elfman? Who is, in fact, eating one of my muffins right now." She said, pointing in his direction. "As are Laxus, Natsu, Freed and the Master."

"I just don't want it." Gray said, looking at her nervously.

"Why?" Lucy asked again, raising her eyebrow.

"I just don't."

"That's not good enough! Why don't you want my muffin?!"

"Why do you want me to eat your muffin so much?!"

"Just shut up and eat my muffin!"

"No! Your cooking is gross okay! I don't want to eat your muffin!" Gray yelled, before gasping and putting his hands over his mouth, looking like he desperately wanted to escape.

Lucy's eyes narrowed dangerously. The entire guild was staring at them now, due to their little yelling match, and it wasn't just about the potion anymore. He'd _dared_ to insult her cooking. In front of everyone!

"Eat it." She said quietly.

"I won't." Gray said defiantly, though he was definitely looking a little frightened now.

"Eat it," Lucy lowered her voice before continuing, "or I'll tell Juvia that you're in love with her, and love it when she watches you sleep."

Gray paled, before staring at Lucy beseechingly. When he realised that she meant what she had said, he sighed and gingerly took the muffin from her hands, grimacing before eating the whole thing in one go.

"Happy now?"

"Very."

* * *

After managing to get Gray to eat the laced muffin - _finally _-, Lucy retreated to the other side of the guild hall. It wouldn't do for her to be standing in the way when the full dose of potion hit him. She watched Gray eagerly, awaiting the moment her pounced on Natsu, or something else of the sort. Whilst she was drugging him to see who he really felt for, she was fairly certain it was Natsu.

It was this conviction that made her so shocked when she saw Gray suddenly survey the room, before making his way over to Juvia. _Juvia. What on earth is he doing?!_

Not wanting Natsu to see whatever the potion would encourage Gray to do, she quickly located him a couple of tables over, and joined him and Happy.

"Hey Natsu! Erza's a little grumpy right now, want to come with me to get some strawberry cake? Hopefully it'll make her happy again."

"Sure." Natsu said helpfully. Lucy couldn't help but notice that his eyes had followed Gray as he was walking, and he was already looking a little bit sad.

"We can get one each too - on me!" She said, attempting to cheer him a little bit.

"Yes!" Natsu yelled happily, punching the air, before leading the way out of the guild. "You can't take it back now Lucy!"

Lucy walked slowly after him. _Hopefully Juvia decides she doesn't want Gray anymore when he want her in return.. Who am I kidding, that's never going to happen. I'm sorry Natsu, I should have just left it alone._

* * *

It was with some trepidation that Lucy made her way into the guild hall the next day. On their way back with the strawberry cake, they had been knocked over by a purse thief - whom Natsu had proceeded to burn to a crisp. The old lady whose purse had been stolen, had then insisted that Natsu and herself come in and have some tea with her - and the day had easily been wasted away as they were shown photo album after photo album.

Due to that, Lucy had no idea what Gray had done the day before. A small part of her still held onto the hope that Juvia would reject him should he become available, no matter how much her logical side argued it would never happen.

As always, her logical side was correct. After entering the hall, she had almost immediately turned back around and left. Everyone in the guild had seemed to be in a state of shock, and it hadn't taken her long to find out why.

Gray and Juvia were quite happily making out over by the bar. Fortunately, Gray was still fully clothed, but Lucy didn't think it would be very long before either of them rectified that situation. With that in mind, she quickly made her way over to the couple, and interrupted them.

"Geez Gray, get a room won't you?" she said, in what she hoped was a teasing voice. "Since when are you with Juvia?"

The couple separated from each other, and Gray surprised the guild all over again by glaring at Lucy. And not a playful glare - no, a real, hateful one.

_It's like I'm Deliora _Lucy though, slightly frightened by the intensity of the glare.

"Since when is it your business?" Gray asked, with a dismissive yet poisonous tone of voice. "I may have tolerated you before, but now that I have Juvia, I don't need you. I don't need anyone. So just leave us alone, yeah?" Once he'd finished his little speech, Gray turned back to a swooning Juvia, and proceeded to kiss her all over again.

Lucy stood stock-still, in shock from what had just occurred. Quite obviously, her potion had not done what it was intended to do - she was fairly certain Gray would never normally decide he hated everyone else once he got a love interest. Through some stroke of luck, it seemed that Natsu had gotten up early and left on a job alone today, so Lucy needed to fix this before he could return.

* * *

Lucy quickly rushed into her home, looking around desperately for the book that had started it all. She needed to re-read the page and see whether it said anything about side-effects, or had warnings of any kind.

Lucy sighed with relief when she spotted the red book underneath some clothes - _clearly Natsu's been here _- and quickly flipped to the page she was looking for. Her relief quickly turned into frustration however, when she saw that the page held no information about what might be happening. She almost threw the book in her disgust, when she was hit by a stroke of genius. _Maybe there's a note in the foreword?_

With that in mind, Lucy flipped back to the front of the book, and scanned the page for anything of interest. She found it right at the very bottom, and her relief at finding information slowly turned into fear when she realised this wasn't going to be as easy to fix as she had thought it would be.

_Warning:_

_When brewing any of the potions within this book, ensure to follow the method to the letter. Extra processes like boiling, cooking and freezing can change the effects of your chosen potion, and have many side-effects. Some of the most common include:-_

• Rashes

• Purple lumps (often quite painful)

• Mood swings

• Emotion reversal (where one's emotions are switched)

• Memory alteration

• Personality changes

_Occasionally, the effects of a botched potion can even become permanent. _

Lucy stared in horror at the page. _WHY DIDN'T I READ THIS FIRST?! Now Gray could be a bastard forever! I have to fix this! But how?_

Lucy quickly scanned through the foreword, and even checked the back pages, but with no luck. There was no information about how the effects of a botched potion could be fixed.

Lucy growled to herself. "What a stupid book!" She yelled into her empty room. "What type of book doesn't tell you how to fix a problem they know about?! Argh! I mean, I know it's my fault, but come on!" Lucy trailed off, ending her rant as she yanked on her hair. _I need help. But who can I ask? Levy hasn't been seen since Gajeel kissed her, Erza doesn't have the smarts _- here Lucy winced, as if imagining Erza's reaction if she could hear her thoughts - _and she'd be furious if she knew I drugged Gray anyway.. Who can I tell that can help, but won't beat me to a pulp... Mira!_

* * *

**TBC! I'm splitting this into at least 2 chapters, as it's like my brain stops working after I've written a certain amount of words. Plus, I'd rather post the first half now, and see if anyone actually wants me to continue, before struggling over the rest XD**

**So, please comment, follow, favourite - whatever you like! :) Just, no flames please :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N:_** **Ahh, so, hi. Sorry this is so late *scratches head*. Every time I tried to write this chapter, something went wrong. It didn't save, I ran out of inspiration, my computer broke, so it faded into the back of my mind. Sorry about that! If it's any consolation though, I now have the entire story planned, and it shouldn't take any more than one, possibly two chapters to complete which I should hopefully get up shortly. I've even got the final scene written - I'm in one of my writing moods :)**

* * *

_Lucy growled to herself. "What a stupid book!" She yelled into her empty room. "What type of book doesn't tell you how to fix a problem they know about?! Argh! I mean, I know it's my fault, but come on!" Lucy trailed off, ending her rant as she yanked on her hair. __I need help. But who can I ask? Levy hasn't been seen since Gajeel kissed her, Erza doesn't have the smarts__ - here Lucy winced, as if imagining Erza's reaction if she could hear her thoughts - __and she'd be furious if she knew I drugged Gray anyway.. Who can I tell that can help, but won't beat me to a pulp... Mira!_

* * *

Mind made up, Lucy left her home, and made her way to the Guild. She kept an eye out for both Natsu and Gray as she walked, but neither of them interrupted the walk, which worried her greatly.

As always, Lucy saw upon entering that Mira was polishing glasses behind the bar, and made to sit on her usual stool, before remaining standing. Mira was more rational than Erza, but she was still damn scary.

"Uh, so Mira.. You know Gray's been all.. weird?"

"Hmmm, yes, I do. I still need to work out how to punish him for how he's been treating us since he got together with Juvia", Mira replied with a rather unholy glint in her eye.

"Ah, no! No, uhm, see, it's not exactly Gray's fault." Lucy said desperately, waving her hands and trying to protect her friend from the certain death a scorned Mira entailed.

"Oh.. and why might that be?" Mira asked, her glinty eyes now staring at Lucy.

Lucy gulped. _Here goes nothing. _"He was fed a botched love potion".

Before Lucy could even blink, Mira was in her demon take-over form, and the glint had turned to sheer fury. "When I catch Juvia -"

"No no no it wasn't Juvia!" Lucy yelled desperately. _What are you doing?! Now she's going to kill you!_. Lucy ignored her subconscious.

Mira looked at her curiously, and slowly returned to normal. "And how do you know this?"

"Well, see, I know about the potion, and it went wrong, and I was really hoping you'd be able to help me fix Gray. Preferably before he sees Natsu."

"It's okay Lucy, I'll help you," Mira purred ,"we'll make sure whoever did this pays. Now, who was it?.. And why do you know so much about it?"

"Aha, well, see that's a funny story. Uh, I mean... It was an accident! I gave Natsu a potion the other day that made him show his passions and it turns out he likes Gray and I just wanted to get Gray to act on what I thought were his emotions as well only I messed up the potion and the side-effects include personality change and emotion switches and I think now he might love Juvia because he used to be indifferent to her and now it's all ruined for Natsu and I don't know how to fix it!" Lucy wailed without pausing for breath, before running out of steam and collapsing on the bar stool behind her, breathing deeply.

_Oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God she's going to kill me. I'm so dead. I can't believe I thought Mira was safer than Erza. Oh God, she's even laughing, I can hear her now.. I'm so dea- wait, laughing?_

Lucy looked up at Mira, and almost fell of her chair when she saw Mira wiping tears away from her face, she'd been laughing so hard.

"I don't.. I don't understand. Why are you laughing? I thought you'd be mad I drugged Gray?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh trust me," Mira said, wiping away the final tear, "I am mad at you... But, it would be entirely hypocritical of me to punish you more than your guilt already has for it."

"What do you mean, hypocritical?" Lucy asked suspiciously.

"You got this potion from a bright red book, called 'Potions of Passion', didn't you?"

"How did you know that?!"

"Well, as you know, I was a much different person when I was younger. And, well. I found this book, and decided to test it out on Erza."

"... On Erza."

"Like I said, I was a completely different person. And she loves her strawberry cake to an unholy degree."

"You spiked her cake!"

"Oh hush, or I'll tell her you drugged Gray." Mira threatened, effectively shutting up Lucy.

"Now here's the deal. I'll need to do some searching to find the exact recipe, but I've made the cure before. It's a 'negate all potions' kind of potion, and it takes about an hour to brew. I happen to agree with you about Natsu and Gray. They're totally perfect for each other, and besides I've had a bet on them getting together for years, so we need to fix this. What I want you to do, while I'm brewing the cure, is keep Natsu _away_ from Gray until he's fixed. Natsu's strong, but I don't know if he could handle this, especially not on the day Igneel disappeared."

"Oh God, is that today?!" Lucy exclaimed, horrified that she hadn't remembered. No wonder she hadn't seen him on her way to the guild!

"Yes. Yes it is, and we all know how he gets. So, you'd best go find him now, and make sure nothing happens to upset him further." Mira commanded sternly, the concern for Natsu evident in her tone.

Not wanting to upset the take-over mage in her precarious position, and worried about Natsu herself, Lucy barelled out of the guild faster than Cana could drink a pint.

* * *

_If there is one thing you can count on Natsu for, it's predictability. _Lucy sighed with relief as she spotted Natsu sitting alone by the stream, and made her way down to him. _  
_

"Hey Natsu," Lucy said, faking cheerfullness, "how are you?"

"Today's the day Igneel left", he replied in a monotone.

Lucy sighed, and sat down with a thump next to him. "Yeah, I know. I didn't know if you'd want to talk about it though. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine", Natsu replied, scratching his head sheepishly, "I almost feel bad for not missing him more. I mean, I miss him, so much, but you and Gray and Erza and Happy and all my nakama here make me forget about him most of the time."

"That's the nature of grief Natsu," Lucy said kindly, "you guys help me forget my father most of the time too. It doesn't mean you're a bad person."

Natsu looked at her with equal measures horror and sheepishness. "Ugh, sorry Lucy, I forgot your father's gone too."

"I know Natsu, it's okay." Lucy smiled, ignoring the twinge of pain remembering her father always brought.

Lucy and Natsu both turned to look at the river, as a comfortable silence depended upon them.

And then Gray arrived.

* * *

**The dreaded "I've hit a certain amount of words and can go no further" limit has arrived, so here's your chapter. Like I mentioned, I've got the final scene written, I just need to work on the bits in the middle. It's almost done, and hopefully I'll have it to you soon! Enjoy 3**


End file.
